Welcome.

This week’s Come Follow Me outline for Ether chapters one through five is entitled, “Rend That Veil of Unbelief.” When I read that title, it commanded, for me, a sober moment of serious and reflective pondering.

The very first paragraph this week in Come Follow Me has enormously powerful thoughts strung together in life changing sentences.

Take this one for example: “…Sometimes the only thing separating us from the blessings we seek is our own ‘veil of unbelief,’ and if we can ‘rend that veil,’ we may be surprised by what the Lord is willing to do for us. ” (Come Follow Me Lesson: November 11 – 17: Rend That Veil of Unbelief).

“We may be surprised…”

“…by what the Lord is willing…”

“…to do…”

“…for us…”

As in, for me. As in, for you.

I once heard or read (can’t remember which) that willing defined is: “the natural disposition of our hearts.” Willing, as understood in our day and time, means eager, prepared, ready. Combining those two thoughts, we can clearly see that the Lord’s natural temperament and character reflect the condition of his raw heart: enthusiastically keen on blessing us.

The oft times stopper? Our veils of unbelief.

Do we erect them for a defense? Because of pride? When we think we know best?

I loved Kristen Yee’s last General Conference talk. It was absolutely dynamic. She said, “…Where might you and I be defending ourselves from those things that might do us good? Let us not defend ourselves from the good that God desires to bless us with. From the love and mercy that He desires us to feel. From the light and knowledge He desires to bestow upon us. From the healing that He knows we so readily need. From the deeper covenant relationship He intends for all His sons and daughters…” (General Conference: The Joy of Our Redemption, October 2024: Kristin M. Yee)

How can we rend these veils, rip them in half so they no longer obstruct our belief?

One of my friends shared such a sweet insight with me recently. She said, “I realized…if you take the “B” off the word belief and then add “R,” you get relief.

Think on this for a moment. It’s actually quite perceptive because…well, my friend is quite insightful.

Belief yields to relief. Relief from doubt. Relief from excessive anxiety and worry. Relief from Satan’s lies. Relief from untruths about who we are and what our life missions include. Relief from uncertainty. Relief from the darkness. Unbelief, on the other hand, yields to everything else except relief. Tearing the veil of unbelief asunder has to begin with fully chosen belief.

Deciding to choose belief.

Even when it seems impossible. God, after all, can do the impossible. Ask Dallas Jenkins. He knows something of God’s ability to do, in his words, “impossible math.” (See Five Loaves and Two Fishes BYU Speech given by Dallas Jenkins to BYU students)

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)

I am remorsefully sorry that too many times in my past, my unbelief has kept me from really receiving all that God was likely willing to do for me.

But I’d like to do better.

To more consistently choose belief, to more fully rend the veil between us.

The Biblical account of the father with the possessed son who foamed at the mouth, gnashed his teeth, convulsed, thrashed about on the ground, and was constantly injured from such activity is so beautiful. The father told Jesus that such had been the situation since his son was a child and then said these precious words: “…but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.” (See Mark 9: 18-22)

“…if thou canst do any thing…”

Oh yes, He can.

When the veil of unbelief is ripped wide apart – from our end. That’s when He gets invited in to do His work, perform the miracle, work the wonder.

He doesn’t push His way in uninvited, and conscious belief is, for us, opening the door for His arrival.

That action has the power to bring the finger of God through the cloud of obstruction. (The Lord Appears to the Brother of Jared” video, Gospel Library)

“…If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth…” (Mark 9:23)

And then that desperate father spoke seven of the most beautiful words in all of holy writ: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

I, too, have expressed those words in my humblest moments of help seeking. They are powerful. If we will choose to believe, give voice to that belief, and then ask for heavenward help to convert the remnants of our remaining unbelief, we will see the lovely disposition of God’s heart and His very present helping nature manifest.

But the harbinger is chosen belief.

Leaving Satan’s territory of doubt and choosing the faith filled action of believing.

Even when it seems unlikely. Especially when it seems unlikely. In all things, God’s will is to be done. Provided a certain blessing does not run counter to His will, our belief is key to unlocking the benevolence of His very soul.

Once we choose belief and pray for help to get it, how else can we continue to rip the barrier that separates us from, in Elder Uchtdorf’s words, “The Generous One?” (Dieter Uchtdorf, The Generous One, 2015 Christmas Devotional)

Now comes the action. Of surrender. Heart surrender. The hardest offering of them all. We must (over and over and over) yield “to the enticings of the Holy Spirit” and daily utilize the atonement of Christ so that we become changed, childlike, “submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing (there’s that word again – the natural disposition of our changed hearts) to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon (us)…” (Mosiah 3:19)

An every day offering on the altar.

And then we must be about the work of sustaining our belief and compounding our action through meditating on the word of God. “…thou shalt meditate therein day and night…for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success…” (Joshua 1:8) The word of God “is…powerful, which shall divide asunder…and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course…and land their souls…at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven…” (Helaman 3:29)

Want a rent veil? Want to find out what God is willing to do for you? Want the blessings and miracles of belief? Choose belief. Surrender fully. Meditate on the word of God.

Unto all the world: Rend that veil!